A device for warming a patient in a clinical environment includes a poncho-type patient gown with an inflatable convective warming apparatus supported on the patient gown.
Inflatable thermal blankets that transfer heat to a human body by convection are known. In this regard, an inflatable thermal blanket receives a stream of pressurized, warmed air, inflates in response to the pressurized air, distributes the warmed air within a pneumatic structure, and emits the warmed air onto a body to accomplish such objectives as increasing comfort, reducing shivering, and treating or preventing hypothermia. Arizant Healthcare Inc., the assignee of this application, sells such inflatable thermal blankets under the BAIR HUGGER® brand.
Inflatable thermal blankets have been specifically designed for particular deployments where therapeutic warming is indicated. Three representative inflatable thermal blankets known in the prior art are shown in FIGS. 1A-1D. A “full body” inflatable thermal blanket 10 is shown in FIG. 1A. The full body blanket 10 is adapted to lie upon a patient and to extend longitudinally along the body of the patient in order to cover substantially the patient's entire body, from near the ankles or feet up to the neck. A “lower body” thermal blanket 12 shown in FIG. 1B is adapted to lie upon a patient and to extend longitudinally along the body in order to cover the patient's lower body, from near the ankles or feet up to the waist or pelvis. An “upper body” thermal blanket 15 is illustrated in FIGS. 1C and 1D. When fed a stream of warmed pressurized air, each of the thermal blankets 10, 12, 15 inflates and distributes the air within itself. While the thermal blanket lies on the patient, the warmed pressurized air flows through apertures or interstices in a permeable surface of the thermal blanket which faces the patient. These thermal blankets may have one, two, or more inlet ports 18 through which an air hose 19 provides warmed pressurized air from a heater/blower unit (not shown in these drawings).
The construction of these prior art inflatable thermal blankets is well understood. Examples of specific constructions are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,620,482, 5,443,488, 5,360,439, and 5,304,213. See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,605.
The inflatable thermal blankets of FIGS. 1A-1D have a narrow range of clinical application; they are designed and constructed to function during the intra- and post-operative periods upon prone patients. They cannot be used preoperatively on an upright or standing patient without provision for being supported on the patient's body. Moreover, if deployed and operated vertically with respect to a standing or sitting patient, much of the warmed air emitted by a thermal blanket is lost because the blanket cannot be draped around the patient.
A novel device which solves the problem of warming patients that may be standing, sitting, or prone is disclosed in the referenced Patent Application Publication No. US 2005/0143796, which is incorporated herein by reference. This warming device includes a clinical garment which is adapted to support an inflatable convective warming apparatus in order to warm a person wearing the clinical garment, thereby providing for the person's comfort without limiting the person's mobility. A novel multifunction warming device for perioperative use described in the referenced Patent Application Publication No. US 2006/0122671, which is incorporated herein by reference. This multifunction warming device is constituted of a clinical garment and an inflatable convective warming apparatus constructed for comfort warming and/or therapeutic warming that is supported on a surface of the clinical garment.
Patient warming devices manufactured and sold by Arizant Healthcare Inc. under the BAIR PAWS® brand include a clinical garment and one or more inflatable convective warming apparatuses supported on one or more surfaces of the garment. Constructions of these patient warming devices are disclosed in detail in the published patent applications and issued patents referenced in paragraph [0002]. While a patient wears the clinical garment, a convective warming apparatus supported on an inside surface of the garment is inflated with a stream of warmed, pressurized air and emits the warmed air within the garment to provide comfort warming during the preoperative phase. The patient warming device is deployed on the patient and operated to provide therapeutic warming during and after surgery. The clinical garment is a sleeved, robe-like garment, made of a soft, nonwoven material. It has a back or side opening that is closed by ties. The sleeves, which are sewn on to the clinical garment after a body of the garment is formed, can be opened and closed again along their upper seams to provide access to the upper arms and chest of the patient wearing the garment. The garment can be opened, removed from, and repositioned on the patient during and after surgery to provide upper, full, or lower body therapeutic warming. This construction provides clinically effective warming solutions for all periods of the perioperative cycle.
The efficacy of warming a patient for comfort preoperatively and then warming a patient for therapy during, and after surgery has been well documented. (Yilmaz M, et al. Impact of perioperative warming on maintenance of normothermia and outcome after colorectal surgery. Anestheseology 2008; 109: A880-A881). The assignee's BAIR PAWS products effectively provide both comfort and therapeutic warming throughout the perioperative cycle. (Wagner D, et al. Effects of comfort warming on preoperative patients. AORN 2006; 84: 427-448. Andrzejowski J, et al. Effect of prewarming on post-induction core temperature and the incidence of inadvertent perioperative hypothermia in patients undergoing general anaesthesia. BJA 2008; 101, 5: 627-631).
Nevertheless, there are needs for alternate patient warming device constructions that provide new garment configurations with additional modes of patient access, simplified manufacturing, and alternate means of deployment during intra-operative use.
These needs are met with a patient warming device that includes a patient gown with a poncho-type construction and at least one inflatable convective warming device supported on a surface of the patient gown. The poncho-type construction provides access to both sides of a patient through opposing side openings that can be opened and closed. Additionally, a poncho-type construction with sleeves provides access to the upper chest and arms of the patient through both upper and lower portions of the sleeves. The poncho-type construction is particularly suited to simple, inexpensive modes of manufacture in which sleeves are provided by cutting a web of patient gown material instead of by attachment of sleeve portions during or after web processing. Furthermore, the poncho-type construction provides a multi-mode patient warming device with an easily-manipulated patient gown that does not need to be removed or detached from the patient to provide a particular mode of therapeutic warming.